Telescoping member



Jan. 21, 1941. N. w. REDMER TELESCOPING MMBER Filed July 27, 1939INVENTQR. 1

ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 2l, 1941 .UNITED sra'rss @traiteur ori-fica 5Claims.

lylyfinventionrelates in general to telescoping members and more inparticular to a camera tripod provided with legs comprising noveltelescopng @smbles- Thereare anumber of instances where tele- '5 scoping.members ,are employed, VIthe desire or `function being togprovide foradjustable length yof a member during use thereof, and at times as wellto telescope the member so that it Will occupya small space forstorage,or carrying purposes. -In, one form of Atelescoping member, such as onetype of conventional tripod, the several telescoping ,sections may beextended the maximum `1degreeat which point snap catches hold fthenmembers in the extended position. Such lmembers, however,arenotadjustable to various `lengths except by eliminating entirely fromex- ,.tenhsion one of the sections comprising the compositememben Ininstanc es where telescoping 2 0 members are to beadjusted to Vvariouslengths,

fthe common .practiceis to vemploy a manually `operable fastener of somatype or other function- .ingfasffa frictionor braking member to hold the,partsto the position to whieh vtheyare adjusted. LAdjustable microphonestands, as generally designed, are'fairly illustrative of this ltype oftelescoping member.

The purpose of my invention is the provision o f a telescoping memberadapted for use as the legof a.tripod,.forexample, which may be readilyVextended to a` relatively large number of positions ,andv,automatically `retain any position to which it fisr extended throughthe function of an auto- `matic latching or fastening device. Thisfeature entails'the use of Va plurality, possibly at times a very largenumber, of automatic `fastening or latching devices which would normallyhave to bereleased by hand vwhen the members are telescoped withineachother. To meet this possible 0 disadvantage, I utilizeva novel releasingmechanism sol arranged that the telescoping member is as readily broughtto its shortest length as extended. r `Detailed objects and features ofthe invention i5 willlbe apparentfroma consideration of the followingdescription taken with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. r'1 is an.elevational view showing a camera tripod embodying rmy invention;

50 Fig. 2 is an `enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken o n the line2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig'.y 3 ,is a fragmentary sectional View, on a larger scalestillthanlig. 2, illustrating one position whiclithe partsmay takeduring the use i5 flh@ .devine ef .my mrgreen? Fig. 1. `provided withstopl means to prevent their entire `may be constructedin accordancekwith the features of my present-invention. 'The manner of constructingthe head member Il) and pivoting the legs thereto may be modified invarious ways, but I prefer to utilize the general structure shown `15 in`my prior copending application, Serial No. 276,515, filed May 31, 1939.

Each leg comprises a plurality of mutually telescoping tube members, thenumber depending `upon the design. The tubes are of graduatedg@ sizes,one fitting within the other and comprising a series of tubes from theone of largest diameter to the one of smallest diameter. As shown inFig. 1, the tube of smallest diameter is at the lowermost `end of thelegs, a conventional arf- 25 rangement in camera tripods, although itwill be understood that the legs might be reversed so far as theirfunctioning is concerned.

In the embodiment shown in the drawing, I

`employ three tubular members I3, I4 and I6, thei,30

details of which are brought out moreclearly in Figs. 2 to 4, inclusive,than in the assembly of Each mutually engaging pair of tubes isseparation. As shown for example, tube I3 has.,35 an annular depressionI'I which is engaged by the lowermostoneof a pairiof annular projectionsI8 at the upper end of tube Ill. The provision of two annularprojections I8 makes for rigidity when `the tubes are fully extended. Atits lower end, tube I4 nasa similar annular` depression IS,

I and the lowermost tube I6 is provided with annular extensions Z'I.`Thus, stop means are provvided `for preventing entire removal of onetube from another, these stop means `being readily 4.5 formed from thebody `of the Atubes themselves in what is more or kless conventionalpractice.

Near the top of tube I4 is a second stop mechanism for preventingretelescoping between tubes I 3 and I 4 when thesetubes have beenentirely ex- 50 tended. This stop mechanism comprises a pair`ofplungers22 extending through openings in the side wall of tube-I4 andspring-pressed to Itheir outerposition by `a U-shaped spring 23 to Whichtheplungers'are attached. The plungers emerge sa at a point immediatelybelow the lower edge of tube I3 and, in this position, function as stopswhen the tubes are entirely extended.

Similarly, near the top of tube I6 I provide plungers 24 attached to aU-shaped spring 26, the plungers engaging at the lower edge of the tubeI4. At' a plurality of positions and preferably at substantially regularintervals below the stop comprising the spring pressed plungers 24, Iprovide a plurality of additional stop means which may be identical withthe stop means previously described. One such stop mechanism is shown atthe lower part of Fig. 2, and comprises plungers 21 secured to aU-spring 28. To conserve space, only a single one of these additionalstop mechanisms is shown in the enlarged Fig. 2, but it will be seen byan examination of Fig. 1 that a relatively large number of plungers 21is provided along the entire length of the lowermost tube I6. By thisconstruction, tube I6 may be withdrawn to any one of a relatively largenumber of stop positions and will be retained in the position to whichit is withdrawn throughthe' plungers 21 engaging the lowermost edge oftube I4.

To facilitate telescoping of the individual members of the large orcomposite members, I provide an improved Areleasing mechanismjsimplyconstructed in the form of a sleeve or sleeves disposed on the outsideofthe tubular members.

Looking rst at the uppermost portion of Fig. 2, I provide an outer latchor stop releasing sleeve 29. This sleeveI is made relatively free on thetube I3 and has an inwardly projecting annular bead 3| extending intothe recess at I1 to permit adequate sliding action but to prevent itsentire removal. An annular depression 32 at another point on the sleeve29 actsas a bearing or steadying surface so that the stop releasingsleeve will not wobble on thesleeve I3. It -will be noted that the outerends of plungers 22 are generally cone-shaped, that isto say, they areshaped so that they will function generallyas cams when the lower edgeof sleeve 29 engages them. When the sleeve 29 is pushed downwardly fromthe position it occupies-in Fig. 2, therefore, it will depress bothplungers 22 to a point where sleeve I3 can ride over them and tube Itcan be telescoped within tube I3.

Near the bottom of the tube I 4, I provide a stop releasing sleeve 33with an annular inward projection 311 engaging in the depression at I9and a lower internal annular depression 3S bearing against the straightportion of tube I4. Inthe same manner as described in connection withthe sleeve 29, sleeve 33 is slidable to depress the plungers 2li. vThesleeve 33, however, will also function to depress each of the plungers21 as they are engaged by the lowermost edge of the stop releasingsleeve.

As the enlarged Fig. 3 shows, sleeve 29 is formed so that its lower edgewill engage the upper edge of sleeve 33. Thisis not a requirement tooperation, but facilitates greatly the use ofthe telescoping member ofmy present invention. By this means, it is simply vnecessary to graspsleeve 29 with oneI hand andtube I6 with the other hand. By bringing thehands together, tube Ill is telescopedV within tube I3, tube I 6remaining stationary with respect to tube Ill until sleeve 29 engagessleeve 33. This 'brings sleeve 33 to a lower position, as shown in Fig.3, so that it engages over the outer edge of plungers 211, and the tubeI6 then starts to slide with respect to tube I4. VAs each of the stops21is encountered by the sleeve 33, these stops are depressed and the tubeby suitable tooling operations.V

I6 is finally telescoped within tube I4 with a single movement of thehands.

For convenience, tubes I3, I4 and I6 have been shown entirely extendedwith respect to each other. It is to be understood, however, that inactual practice it may be desirable to extend tube I6 only a part of itsmaximum distance either for the purpose of making adjustments forirregularity in the ground, as shown in Fig. 1, when the telescopingmember is to be used for a tripod leg, or for adjusting the height ofeither an entire tripod or a telescoping member used alone as in asupport for a microphone.

I deem it unnecessary to describe Fig. 5 in detail, it being suiiicientto point out that a suitable base 31 is provided and the stand may carrya microphone 38. The stand itself may be identical with that shown indetail in Fig. 2, except that the smaller tube is at the top and thelarger tube at the bottom. For identification, I employ the samereference characters as used inthe preceding figures except prefixedwith the-numeral 1.

The construction of the support member of my invention rshould ingeneral be clear to those .skilled inthe. art. By rst shaping the tubesand then sliding them together in the same direction as that in whichthey are normally slidable during the act lof extending them duringuse,'the tubes arebrought together in slidable relation. The sleeves 29and 33 may be formed directly in the position in-which they will occupyThe stop mechanisms of the typeincluding-the spring pressed plungers areformed by -rst assembling the plungers with the spring and theninserting the entire assembly within the respective tubes, allowing theplungers to expand'lthrough openings prolvided beforehand at properplaces in the tubes.

In the case of the tube'IS, which has a number of stop mechanisms,assembly is'readily accomplished by catching the spring 28 with asuitable jig which is introducible throughsubstantially the entirelength of the tube. When the stop members reach the right position, thejig is loosened and the plungers are allowed'to expand into position.

My invention makes possible the use of a camera tripod in ways whichhave been deemed ineffective with previous constructions. As an i1-lustration, there are types of cameras, such as the so-called Graiiex,with which a relatively short tripod is desired so that the photographercan look down into' the camera from above. Then in other cases, for'example, with certain types of movie cameras, the photographer desiresto have the camera evenl with his eye and therefore needs a relativelyhigh tripod. Furthermore, with different people and under differentcircumstances, the over-al1 height of the tripod may requireadjustment.` In old types Y of wooden tripods with manually operatedscrew stops, adjustments could be made for diierent heights, but in themore common tripod, with legs consisting of a series of telescopingtubes, it has been impossible to provide for adequate adjustment as toheight. I may, therefore, extend the lowermost tube I6 of each legthesame distance, but let that distance be only a part'of the distance towhich it is possible to extend it. On the contrary, I may extend thetubular members the entire distance to get maximum height in thetripodor, as previously noted, inthe case of un-r even ground, I mayadjust the legs to different lengths to accomodate tliel to the' ground.

When the telescoping member is to be entirely telescoped, that is,arranged so that all of the tubular members are housed within the tubeof maximum diameter, the sleeve 29 is gripped with one hand, aspreviously noted, andthe lowermost end of tube I6 with the other hand.In one movement the entire leg member is telescoped. If, on the otherhand, it is desirable merely to adjust the degree of extension of thetube I 6, the sleeve 33 may be engaged with one hand and the tube I6moved in or out, the distance desired.

The advantages of my invention may be considered in connection with theembodiment of Fig. as well. If the stand is to be collapsed entirely,for example, for storage, the sleeve l29 is grasped and the entire standpushed downwardly. Should performers appear before the microphone ofdifferent heights, however, each, as he reaches the microphone, maygrasp the tube H6 in one hand and the sleeve 133 in the other hand andsimply move the tube I l5 until the microphone is in the most suitableposition for his height. There is no necessity of releasing any manualstop, or tightening it again, and none of the inconvenience orembarrassment which sometimes occurs when the stop has not beenadequately fastened and the microphone stand is allowed to collapse.

I have described my invention in considerable detail in order that thoseskilled in the art may understand the manner of practicing the same. Thedetails and arrangement of parts, however, may be modilied. As oneillustration, I show the tube of smallest diameter at the lower end ofthe tripod leg. The legs may be re-reversed, however, with someadvantage. By placing the plurality of stops in the top tube section,they are made more available for adjustment, and sand, grit, or thelike, which might otherwise be introduced when using the tripod on asand beach, for example, are more effectively excluded. While myinvention is limited by the scope of the appended claims, therefore, itis to be understood that the claims are to be construed, where they userelative terms, such as top and bottom, in the light of the entiredisclosure.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

l. In a telescoping member, a plurality of mutually telescoping tubesextensible to substantially the total length thereof and telescoping tosubstantially the length of the outermost tube, stop means between eachcontiguous pair of such tubes for preventing entire removal of one fromthe other, stop means between each pair of tubes for preventingtelescoping thereof when extended to engage said first-mentioned stopmeans, said second-mentioned stop means including a depressible plunger,and a sleeve associated with an outer tube at each one of said secondstop means slidable to depress one of said plungers, said sleeves beingengageable in end to end relationship whereby engagement of a singlesleeve in telescoping the member is adequate to release successively allof said plungers.

2. A telescoping member as dened in claim l, wherein the tube ofsmallest diameter is provided with a plurality of said second-mentionedstop means, whereby it may be extended, in noncollapsible relation toits associated tube, to a plurality of positions.

3. In a tripod, a head member adapted to support a camera or the like,and leg members pivoted thereto, each leg member comprising a pluralityof tubes of graduated diameters, the tube of largest diameter having atube of smaller diameter slidable therein, and tubes of smaller diameterslidable in tubes of larger diameter of the series, whereby all tubesare mutually telescoping within each other and within the tube oflargest diameter, means between each associated pair of tubes forpreventing entire removal by sliding of the smaller from the larger,spring-pressed plunger means carried by each of the tubes except the oneof largest diameter in a position to engage a lower end edge of itsassociated larger tube to prevent telescoping with respect to itsassociated larger tube when fully extended, a plurality ofspring-pressed plunger means disposed in spaced relation between theends of the tube of smallest diameter, whereby said tube of smallestdiameter may be extended less than its maximum extensible length andstill be prevented from telescoping within its associated tube of largerdiameter, and a sleeve slidable on the outside of the tube within whichsaid smaller tube telescopes, and extensible past the end of the tube onwhich it slides, whereby individually but successively to engage saidplurality of springpressed plungers to permit telescoping of the tubesto any given point in a single sliding movement.

4. In a tripod, a head member adapted to support a camera or the likeand leg members pivoted thereto, each leg member comprising a pair oftelescoping tubes, one of relatively larger diameter and one ofrelatively smaller diameter, said tube of relatively smaller diameterhaving a plurality of spring-pressed stop means extending beyond thatsurface ,thereof which engages within the tube of relatively largerdiameter, said stop means being spring-pressed outwardly and distributedat intervals along the length of said tube, and sleeve means extendingaround a lower portion of the larger tube and movable with respect tothe plungers to depressl the same and permit telescoping of the tubes bydepressing said stop means, said sleeve means being ineffective todepress the stop means in response to mere application of endwisepressure to the tubes, whereby the tripod of which the leg members forma part may be adjusted to various heights and to an irregular supportingsurface, and sustain a maximum load without collapsing, and whereby theplurality of stops on the tube of smaller diameter are readily releasedby said sleeve means when the telescoping tubes comprising the legmembers are manually forced into telescoping relation.

5. A telescoping member of the character described, comprising a firsttube, a second tube of smaller diameter slidable within said first tube,a plurality of spring-pressed stop plungers carried by the second tubeand extending through holes therein, said stop plungers engageableagainst a lower edge of the first tube when the second tube is withdrawnvarying distances from the irst tube, the parts being so constructed andarranged that endvvise pressure of the tubes in a direction to telescopethem is ineffective to release said plungers, and sleeve means carriedby the first tube, and of greater diameter than said first tube, saidsleeve means being normally out of contact with said plungers butcapable of engaging and depressing the same when said sleeve means andplungers are moved relatively to each other.

NORMAN W. REDMER.

